Beryl set to strengthen on approach to Texas due to hot ocean temperatures

With its unprecedented tear through the ultrawarm waters of the southeast Caribbean, Beryl turned meteorologists' worst fears of a souped-up hurricane season into grim reality. Now it's Texas turn.

Beryl hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday, then weakened to a tropical storm. It's expected to reach southern Texas by Sunday night or Monday morning, regaining hurricane status as it crosses over the toasty Gulf of Mexico.

National Hurricane Center senior specialist Jack Beven said Beryl is likely to make landfall somewhere between Brownsville and a bit north of Corpus Christi Monday. The hurricane center forecasts it will hit as a strong Category 1 storm, but wrote "this could be conservative if Beryl stays over water longer" than expected.

The waters in the Gulf of Mexico are warm enough for the early-season storm to rapidly intensify, as it has several times before.

"We should not be surprised if this is rapidly intensifying before landfall and it could become a major hurricane," said Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters, a former government hurricane meteorologist who flew into storms. "Category 2 may be more likely but we should not dismiss a Category 3 possibility."

Beven said the official forecast has Beryl gaining 17 to 23 mph in wind speed in 24 hours, but noted the storm intensified more rapidly than forecasters expected earlier in the Caribbean.

"People in southern Texas now need to really keep an eye on the progress of Beryl," Beven said.

Masters and University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said hurricane center forecasters have been very accurate in predicting Beryl's track so far.

Already three times in its one-week life, Beryl has gained 35 mph in wind speed in 24